Alabama's Marcell Dareus has the physical attributes to play anywhere along the defensive line for the Broncos. In his last two seasons with the Crimson Tide, the defensive lineman had 59 tackles and 11 sacks.

<B>Marcell Dareus</B> is one of the biggest defensive tackle prospects in the NFL draft.

Mel Kiper Jr., Mike Mayock and Todd McShay — the top trio among the ever-expanding legion of draft analysts — all have the Broncos picking Dareus.

“I look at it like, if you go back in the history of watching football, before the game was started, it started up front,” Dareus said. “Some people were scared and backed up off the ball, but the real bulls stayed up front and played the game.”

Even if the Broncos didn’t have a gaping hole in the middle of their defensive line after the release of Justin Bannan and Jamal Williams, NFL insiders would gush about Dareus’ potential to become the second coming of Warren Sapp.

“First of all, he’s one of the biggest defensive tackle prospects,” Broncos general manager Brian Xanders said recently. “His size (6-foot-3, 319 pounds) gives him an advantage over a lot of the other prospects in terms of having a massive body in there inside.”

And because Dareus played for Alabama and former NFL coach Nick Saban, he should be well-adjusted for the mental, physical and practice demands at the professional level.

“Saban runs that program as close to an NFL team as any program in the country,” Xanders said.

“If they want the upfield guy, he can do that. If they want the anchor guy, he can do that,” former NFL GM Charley Casserly said. “The guy’s quick, he’s athletic, he’s strong, he can shed (blockers). He’s got pass-rush potential. The guy has all the positive characteristics there. I think he plays high a little bit at times. It might be something they work on. But I don’t have any negative notes on him.”

Here’s a potential negative: his statistics, as compared with Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley. This past college season, Dareus, in the Crimson Tide’s 3-4 system, had 34 tackles, 11 for a loss, and 4 1/2 sacks. Fairley, in Auburn’s 4-3, had 60 tackles, 24 1/2 tackles for loss and 11 1/2 sacks.

True, Dareus missed the season’s first two games to serve a suspension. The violation? Attending a summer barbecue in Florida where an agent was present — but rules are rules.

“I apologized to the team, I apologized to my coaches, everybody,” Dareus said. “I’m just moving on with that. You can’t look forward moving back.”

The Broncos are satisfied Dareus is not a so-called “character problem,” even though he was suspended.

“He was very honest and forthright with what happened,” Xanders said. “Wrong place in the wrong time.”

It’s also true defensive statistics, particularly among those who play inside, can be deceiving. Fairley, working in the 4-3, was free to penetrate to the backfield, while linemen in a 3-4 system are more often used to hold up blockers.

Still, it takes a lengthy list of reasons to explain 50 percent less production. Yet, many knowledgeable football people are doing just that. Sapp has said Dareus projects better as an NFL 4-3 tackle than Fairley.

“I’m not paying that any attention,” Dareus said. “I like that Warren Sapp thinks that highly of me, but . . . it’s really not his decision.”

A case can be made that the Broncos are confronting the most important personnel decision in franchise history. No. 2 is their highest-ever draft position. It will be among the biggest personnel decisions the Broncos’ new regime of Xanders, John Elway and John Fox confronts.

The four candidates believed to be up for No. 2 pick consideration — Dareus, Fairley, outside linebacker Von Miller and cornerback Patrick Peterson — all are defensive players. Sometimes, such enormous decisions are not about which player has the best chance to become great but which one is the least likely to fail.

Miller is a tremendous talent, but he was mostly used as a pass rusher from the defensive end spot in college. Can he drop into coverage as an NFL linebacker? Fairley is getting knocked for questionable practice habits and sloppy technique. Peterson is extremely fast at 220 pounds, but does he have NFL-caliber quickness? And, should the Broncos take a cornerback when they have many other bigger needs?

The consensus among the draftniks is that Dareus, because of his sheer mass, athleticism and work ethic, would be the safest choice.

“There are a lot of players we’re considering that are safe picks,” Xanders said. “We need to decide which is the best pick that fits with the Broncos.”

Strength: Size. He’s the biggest of the top-ranked defensive tackles. He’s also quick for his size. Can play all three line positions in 3-4, a defensive tackle in 4-3. Can both anchor blockers and penetrate the backfield. Weakness: Not a ton of production. In his past two seasons, he combined for 59 tackles, 19 1/2 tackles for loss and 11 sacks. Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley, in his junior season alone, had 60 tackles, 24 1/2 tackles for loss and 11 1/2 sacks. So Fairley had slightly more production in one year than Dareus had in two.

Key game: In the 2010 BCS national championship game, Dareus belted Colt McCoy so hard in the shoulder on the fifth play, the Texas quarterback was knocked out of the game. Dareus later intercepted a shovel pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown. He was named the game’s MVP.

Things you should know: Born, raised and went to college in Alabama, so he has never really left home. Would Denver be culture shock? Came out after his junior year. The second- youngest of seven siblings, Dareus was 6 when his father died. His mother, Michelle Luckey, fell seriously ill when he was in high school. Dareus’ mom passed away last summer.

Mike Klis was with The Denver Post from Jan. 1, 1998 before leaving in 2015 to join KUSA 9News. He covered the Rockies and Major League Baseball until the 2005 All-Star break, when he was asked to start covering the Broncos.

More in Sports

Broncos general manager John Elway was reminded of the nice weather, of the fun memories he had some 13 miles west in Palo Alto in college and of course the ones he experienced here in Santa Clara back in 2016.

A tangled mess at Coors Field unraveled early Thursday afternoon as rookie right-hander Jeff Hoffman craned his neck to see home run after home run leave the yard. Before the end, it devolved into a dilemma.